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Comment by bloudermilk | Hacker News Reader

> The concept of resisting government requests for information is well established.

Well established for whom? For many poor Americans, the thought of resisting a local PD seems impossible, let alone a federal agent who comes knocking. Try to imagine being on your night shift at a rural Motel 6 when a few strange individuals start waving badges, making requests, maybe threatening to escalate things if you don't play along. Maybe you would have the courage to stand up to them, but I think a lot of people would fall to the pressure and abide by the request. One big difference is privilege.

I believe ICE should be responsible for illegally attaining this information. They should also bear the cost of educating the Motel 6 workforce on their rights to resist requests from law enforcement agencies.

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> I believe ICE should be responsible for illegally attaining this information. They should also bear the cost of educating the Motel 6 workforce on their rights to resist requests from law enforcement agencies.

Totally agree. A hotel worker would be a hero for refusing to comply with an illegal request, but it's not reasonable to expect them to know what's legal or not here.

Citizens should be able to assume that those who enforce the law also obey the law, and when that's found not to be true, the agencies should be in deep trouble. Without law abiding law officers, the whole system falls apart.

Well established for companies who safeguard vast amounts of consumer data such as google and twitter, as I said.

Right, ‘The hotel said at the time that the practice was implemented "at the local level without the knowledge of senior management."‘

Obviously, if you are working at a motel and law enforcement enters and start demanding things, you -contact your supervisors-. Not sure how ‘privilege’ is involved, other than having the education or training to understand this. It’s possible that the individuals involved at the motel were not coerced and participated enthusiastically.

Of course ICE should also be obligated to follow the law and not encourage others to break it. However, it’s up to Motel 6 to train their employees, protect customers’ privacy and enforce their own policies.

It’s hard to keep up with laws. ICE is very much a bully, just like TSA is. They can make your life miserable for a while until you get yourself a lawyer (which most people can’t afford, and can’t lose time).

But then who’s gonna police the police ?

It would be interesting to know how ICE obtained it. Did they, in fact, threaten or trick the motel staff or management? I would think that the staff is not personally in legal jeopardy from refusing to comply. I think most people would know that, too. Passing it on to higher-ups would surely be proper corporate protocol, and wouldn’t they be the ones to suffer legal jeopardy or harassment, not Joe Night Clerk?

Edit: checked into this. An older story has more details https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/01/0...

“ICE agents, who are tasked with arresting people who are not legal residents for deportation, would be given a guest list from the hotel’s receptionist, along with a form to sign confirming the lists’ receipt. The roster included information such as guests’ driver’s license number, room number, date of birth and license plate number.”

an article linked within the earlier one says even more. https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/motel-6-calling-ice-und... It appears to be a voluntary practice and they may even sell/be compensated for the list by ICE.

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